omnibus

American  

[om-nuh-buhs, -buhs] / ˈɒm nəˌbʌs, -bəs /

noun

omnibuses, plural omnibusses plural

1. bus.

2. a volume of reprinted works of a single author or of works related in interest or theme.

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adjective

1. pertaining to, including, or dealing with numerous objects or items at once.

   an omnibus bill submitted to a legislature.

omnibus British  

/ -bəs, ˈɒmnɪˌbʌs /

noun

1. a less common word for bus

2. Also called: omnibus volume.  a collection of works by one author or several works on a similar topic, reprinted in one volume

3. Also called: omnibus edition.  a television or radio programme consisting of two or more programmes broadcast earlier in the week

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adjective

1. (prenominal) of, dealing with, or providing for many different things or cases

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• omnibuses
  plural
• omnibusses
  plural

Etymology

Origin of omnibus

1820–30; < French < Latin: for all (dative plural of omnis )

Explanation

An omnibus is another word for a bus, as in a large vehicle carrying lots of passengers. Other names are autobus and coach. This word has bus in it, and that's the main meaning of omnibus. As a book, an omnibus is collection of articles either all on the same subject or written by a single author. An omnibus of Joyce Carol Oates would fill more shelves than all of Shakespeare’s plays. A third meaning is something that covers a lot of different subjects at once, like an omnibus bill that has legislation about gun control, transportation, and parking meters.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

omnibus omnibuses omnibusses

The ESAs were part of an omnibus bill that included provisions to raise teacher pay and extend the state’s literacy reforms to other grades.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 10, 2026

Finra says it is reviewing underwriters involved in multiple small-cap offerings and brokers with omnibus accounts that traded those stocks.

From Barron's ● Dec. 3, 2025

"One of the secrets I honestly think, is it's 15 minutes every night and then that big omnibus on a Sunday," he told the BBC's Nick Owen.

From BBC ● Mar. 25, 2025

The act is the only provision of the omnibus package that the court struck down.

From Slate ● Feb. 24, 2025

We climbed aboard the clattering omnibus just as it pulled up, and it carried us all the way to the southern edge of the city, where the prairie grasses grew tall and abundant.

From "The Detective's Assistant" by Kate Hannigan

The solution most cities settled on was horse-drawn streetcars and omnibuses.

From Textbooks ● Dec. 14, 2022

The clean, quiet electrobus looked set to be stiff competition for the city's lumbering, petrol-guzzling omnibuses.

From Nature ● Sep. 26, 2017

In that pre-automobile era, horses were public animals, seen daily by urbanites as they pulled milk wagons and omnibuses.

From Washington Post ● Aug. 1, 2017

Anthologies, omnibuses, whatever you want to call them: Those cinematic conglomerations of disconnected or slightly interwoven stories are what I’m talking about.

From Washington Times ● Jun. 23, 2015

Sydney, moreover, is amply supplied with gas and water, as well as with every means of conveyance that can facilitate intercourse in a large town, such as omnibuses, cabs, steamers, &c.

From Narrative of the Circumnavigation of the Globe by the Austrian Frigate Novara, Volume III (Commodore B. Von Wullerstorf-Urbair,) Undertaken by Order of the Imperial Government in the Years 1857, 1858, & 1859, Under the Immediate Auspices of His I. and R. Highness the Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, Commander-In-Chief of the Austrian Navy. by Scherzer, Karl Ritter von

More coaches, omnibusses, waggons, vans, and other conveyances, crowd the streets of London than any other city in the world.

From The World's Fair by Anonymous

The excursion was to start from the church, where already there was quite an array of omnibusses drawn up as much in the shade as possible.

From 'Our Guy' or, The elder brother by Boyd, E. E., Mrs.

There are no railroad tracks on Broadway below Fourteenth street; the public travel is done by means of omnibusses, or stages, as they are called.

From The Secrets of the Great City by McCabe, James Dabney

The means of transportation now at the command of the people are the street railways and the omnibusses, or stages; as they are called.

From The Secrets of the Great City by McCabe, James Dabney

I only want to be quiet in Venice, where there are no carts or omnibusses.

From The End of a Coil by Warner, Susan